1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to automatated food processing apparatus and methods of the type adapted to core food products and more particularly to food processing apparatus and methods having automatic measuring means for coring variably sized vegetables and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some vegetable coring devices have apparently previously been in limited use but most coring operations are still done by hand. One coring device presently in use comprises a blade member mounted on a rotary spindle in which the operator hand holds a food product such as a cabbage head or the like and pushes it down onto the upturned rotating blade to cut out the core portion of the head so that the head may subsequently be shreaded to produce a slaw or the like.
This device, besides being low in productivity and generally inefficient, is exceedingly dangerous to use. Further, since the operator must push the cabbage head downward into the rotating blade, he is unable to see how much of the core has been removed commonly resulting either in wasteful overcoring or in allowing portions of the core to remain with the cabbage.
All other coring devices now known require the skill of an operator to judge the degree of coring penetration. Also, these machines generally place the operator in a hazardous position, close to the coring knife.